Frantz Fanon: a theatre of embodiment.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: School of English
Abstract
My project, 'Frantz Fanon: a Theatre of Embodiment' is the first critical study of Fanon's plays: 'The Drowning Eye' and 'Parallel Hands' (1949). Drawing on my artistic practice as director-curator of their world premiere in the English language (Autograph Gallery, London, 2017), my research examines Fanon and theatre, developed from my co-authored chapter with Jean Khalfa for 'The Routledge Companion to Global South Literatures' (forthcoming, 2023).
Fanon is primarily known as anti-colonial theorist. His theatre has been overlooked. In contrast to his seminal works, published 1952-1961 ('Black Skin, White Masks'; 'The Wretched of the Earth') the plays were first published in 2017. This project contributes to renewed interest in Fanon (Laubscher, 2021) following Khalfa and Young's 'Alienation and Freedom' (2017) and the resurgence of the BlackLivesMatter movement (2020). My project thus offers an original, timely examination of how the content of Fanon's plays and his role as theatre-maker provided a chronological and thematic foundation to his work as psychiatric clinician and political activist.
I address this research gap by exploring how their content relates to wider thought in Fanon's critical oeuvre - especially related to body and psyche - and demonstrating how performance in his work informs social responsibilities of twenty-first century theatre practitioners. This project combines critical approaches in phenomenology and theatre (Rayner, 2006) and phenomenology and Fanon (Weate, 2021). I propose that Fanon's philosophical/psychiatric investigations of dramatized character enable Fanon to use theatre as metaphor - and form - to play, test, and revise his later constructions of identity as 'pathology of freedom' (Anders, 1935-1936). Doing this, I closely analyse Fanon's plays alongside case studies/ plays by theatrical writers/practitioners who influenced him:
1. examining new, historical contexts for Fanon's work (in Katherine Dunham's contemporary dance theatre performances, 1949);
2. examining original, theoretical paradigms for his work, relating to Artaud and surrealism (Bromley-Hall, Khalfa, 2023);
3. uncovering overlooked archival resources in Fanon's use of 'playworlds' - developed partly through his correspondence with Nottingham psychiatrist, Duncan Macmillan.
Methodology
Using blended research methods, I combine textual and performance analysis with interdisciplinary sources on psychiatry, political philosophy, postcolonial studies, French Literature, and theatre. As my approach is underpinned by my experience directing the plays, my method is also autoethnographic, including reflection on promptbooks from performances, diaries, production materials, conversations with actors, and recordings. Ethnographic research will also be conducted through oral histories (former personnel at Blida-Joinville Hospital, Algeria; Celestins; Khalfa, Young, Mehdi Lalloui: documentary filmmaker, 'In the Footsteps of Fanon') with access to participants facilitated by my existing relationship with Fanon's estate - and archival research conducted in places listed ('Offsite Research Activities').
Otherwise impossible, funding would enable me to finance vital archival research into the historical, site-specific and scenographic contextualisation of these plays.
Impact
Beyond offering new Fanon insights across disciplines, this PhD has several planned outputs, ensuring dissemination of my research beyond the academy: monograph guide to Fanon's theatre (Routledge Focus, 2025/6); multi-media play adaptation (New Art Exchange, Nottingham; New Perspectives); radio production (performance rights currently being obtained from French publishers, La Decouverte).
Fanon is primarily known as anti-colonial theorist. His theatre has been overlooked. In contrast to his seminal works, published 1952-1961 ('Black Skin, White Masks'; 'The Wretched of the Earth') the plays were first published in 2017. This project contributes to renewed interest in Fanon (Laubscher, 2021) following Khalfa and Young's 'Alienation and Freedom' (2017) and the resurgence of the BlackLivesMatter movement (2020). My project thus offers an original, timely examination of how the content of Fanon's plays and his role as theatre-maker provided a chronological and thematic foundation to his work as psychiatric clinician and political activist.
I address this research gap by exploring how their content relates to wider thought in Fanon's critical oeuvre - especially related to body and psyche - and demonstrating how performance in his work informs social responsibilities of twenty-first century theatre practitioners. This project combines critical approaches in phenomenology and theatre (Rayner, 2006) and phenomenology and Fanon (Weate, 2021). I propose that Fanon's philosophical/psychiatric investigations of dramatized character enable Fanon to use theatre as metaphor - and form - to play, test, and revise his later constructions of identity as 'pathology of freedom' (Anders, 1935-1936). Doing this, I closely analyse Fanon's plays alongside case studies/ plays by theatrical writers/practitioners who influenced him:
1. examining new, historical contexts for Fanon's work (in Katherine Dunham's contemporary dance theatre performances, 1949);
2. examining original, theoretical paradigms for his work, relating to Artaud and surrealism (Bromley-Hall, Khalfa, 2023);
3. uncovering overlooked archival resources in Fanon's use of 'playworlds' - developed partly through his correspondence with Nottingham psychiatrist, Duncan Macmillan.
Methodology
Using blended research methods, I combine textual and performance analysis with interdisciplinary sources on psychiatry, political philosophy, postcolonial studies, French Literature, and theatre. As my approach is underpinned by my experience directing the plays, my method is also autoethnographic, including reflection on promptbooks from performances, diaries, production materials, conversations with actors, and recordings. Ethnographic research will also be conducted through oral histories (former personnel at Blida-Joinville Hospital, Algeria; Celestins; Khalfa, Young, Mehdi Lalloui: documentary filmmaker, 'In the Footsteps of Fanon') with access to participants facilitated by my existing relationship with Fanon's estate - and archival research conducted in places listed ('Offsite Research Activities').
Otherwise impossible, funding would enable me to finance vital archival research into the historical, site-specific and scenographic contextualisation of these plays.
Impact
Beyond offering new Fanon insights across disciplines, this PhD has several planned outputs, ensuring dissemination of my research beyond the academy: monograph guide to Fanon's theatre (Routledge Focus, 2025/6); multi-media play adaptation (New Art Exchange, Nottingham; New Perspectives); radio production (performance rights currently being obtained from French publishers, La Decouverte).
